WaLkMaN
by CobraKaiStrikesBest
Summary: Johnny made so many mistakes back in '84 and now he gets the chance to make everything right.
1. Let's Do the TimeWarp

Hey guys new story inspired by a prompt on tumblr by the lovely cobrakaiseriesfan! It doesn't follow the original prompt exactly but I hope you still enjoy. Also be forewarned that this will contain LAWRUSSO and I will definitely need help because I don't really write romantic relationships. Also with the eighties stuff... it's a decade before my time here so I'm grasping at straws. Don't be afraid to PM me and happy reading guys!

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As Johnny's grip on the Coors bottle in his hand tightened his mind was spiraling trying to come up with some feasible solution to how he was going to stop his life from being an utter train wreck. The tournament was supposed to have fixed everything-and the days leading up to it had been more than great- but as always his life was a constant double standard.

He winced as he finished the fifth beer and lightly set it at the edge of the desk to join its brethren. He could barely make out the time on the clock on the wall but judging by the light, or lack of, from the office window there was no real reason for him to bother with driving back to the apartment now- plus, with Kreese hanging around the Valley again… well keeping the dojo under near constant surveillance couldn't hurt more than anything else right now.

He got up from the cramped office desk and walked into the studio pausing only to grab the final Coors soldier and his Walkman ( just because it was water damaged didn't mean that it wouldn't play and in some ways the little shakes that it gave off while struggling to play were relaxing and strangely therapeutic.). He tossed the Coors box in the corner where 3 or 4 others like it were carelessly left from previous nights like tonight. He really should stop drinking again and promised himself that he would after this final bender; purposely ignoring the fact that it's been three weeks of basically living in the dojo.

Just like every other night, he ends up sprawled out in the middle of the red and black mat sans-gi top, beer and cassette player in hand; staring at the ceiling deliberately trying to block out everything that the past month and a half has bubbled to the surface. When he laid out on the floor like this he didn't have to worry about appearances… no one could see in this far from the sidewalk. Everything in his life had always been about appearance his mom liked to say Stay sweet dear… talk is cheap.

Sure, Cobra Kai had won the tournament but like how that viral video of Miguel fighting at the school had helped them gain students the way that his Cobras' had reacted during the heat of the tournament created a lot of angry parents… apparently that Facebook thing that Daniel showed him was stupidly popular. Cobra Kai was most recently christened the "most ruthless" dojo in the valley; which was ridiculous Johnny's Cobra Kai wasn't ruthless, just real. Something that these kids desperately needed when the world around them was so fake. It wasn't his fault that these kids had to have everything spelled out to them… Honor was a part of everything that you did. Johnny had assumed that they knew that; he had assumed a lot about these kids when he probably shouldn't have.

He chugged the last beer while starring around the dojo and all that he and Miguel had created so far this year… it was so late in the night now that there was no real point in savoring it any longer. Crawling his hand back to the mirror wall he traded the empty for last nights water bottle- wincing at how the lukewarm plastic clung to his hand in stark contrast to the smooth cool glass.

Johnny was all for voluntarily getting drunk but he hated being dehydrated. He tipped his head back and chugged slower this time enjoying the feeling of water gliding down his throat. Remembering how much the old Cobra Kai had meant to him well, Johnny hoped that his new Cobra Kai to Miguel and these new kids then there would still be time to fix everything. Especially for Bert's sake the small eleven years old make Johnny want to show the world just how positive Cobra Kai could be… like what Johnny had needed all those years ago.

In some ways, Johnny felt more like a kid now than he ever had in 1984 when he was a punk, not unlike the way that Robby was acting now. At least, back then he had had an understanding of how the world worked. Mow though, half of the time he couldn't even understand what people were talking about… these kids made Valspeak seem normal. Johnny laughed at the mental image of Ali walking to West Valley High with him freshman year; the Valspeak rolling off of her tongue like French. They hadn't truly become friends yet (against their mothers' constant pushing) she had only been walking with him to not look like a loser freshman all alone.

By Junior year eve thing was finally perfect and Johnny was able to be real with Ali just like she was with him, and then LaRusso entered the picture. Daniel walked around with nothing to lose and in return made Johnny question everything that he had ever known.

Johnny closed his eyes and relaxed his hold on the Walkman; trying not to react to how slick his hands were with sweat. Instead of doing the adult thing and getting up to deal with everything he focused back on the beginning of that summer back in '84 before everything had fallen to shit. With the opening of Boston's Party playing in his ears, he finally allowed himself to fall into a drunken slumber. Johnny barely felt the shock in his hand from the malfunctioning tape-deck.


	2. We Got The Beat

There is an OC in this chapter. Don't worry she won't show up very often in the story.

Johnny was certain that he must have blacked out and walked home at some point. The plush carpeting underneath him was an unexpected comfort to his aching muscles and definitely didn't belong in the dojo. The air smelt wonderful- clean with a hint of citrus- it wasn't his apartment that was clear now. He didn't want to move; whatever this was there was no reason to end it too soon. He only dared to blink open his eyes when he heard a child scurry past.

He knew this room and that terrified him more than any uncertainty in his life. Johnny hadn't set foot in this room in thirty-five years. This was his room in Sid's house, sure Johnny's mother had decorated the entire estate, that had been made an adamant fact long ago. He was either dreaming or in a drunken coma.

"Johnathan, final warning, you better be up and ready. I told Mr. Rukers that you would lifeguard at the club today."

The was sweet but stern and brought tears to his eyes. He picked himself up off of the floor; dragging the Walkman with him by the headphones entangled around his torso. Shaking his head as he went the whirling of the cassette still thrumming in his ears.

Everything was as he remembered. He turned in a circle double checking for anything to be amiss… maybe lucid dreaming took thirty years to have an effect. No luck, everything was how he remembered right down to the blue and white striped walls and the stickers on his typewriter casing. This was what had been his bedroom at Sid's place - plush white magazine carpeting and all. Johnny tripped his way over to the closet; slinging the door open with a little more force than nessacary, he paused listening for his mother's voice only hearing the air conditioning and girlish giggles in its place. He held his breath trying to find the courage to face the mirror on the inside of the door.

It really was true that God liked to play tricks on the willing. All of his other solutions couldn't explain away the fact that his seventeen-year-old body was being reflected back at him. It was weird to see his face without any more damage besides his mild eczema, and his bangs were so feathered and long. Johnny ran his fingers through them surprised by how soft the locks were. He grinned, finally a chance to make it all work. Maybe this time he could keep Ali and Daniel in his life- start with the petty stuff and then move on up the mountain of success.

Johnny dug through the closet and dresser drawers until he found a decent pair of swim trunks. Sure, they were neon blue and green but at least they complimented his hair. He hastily threw the black gi pants into the back of the closet; silently praying that his mom wouldn't come around here snooping. Only after he was satisfied that nothing in the room looked changed from his arrival did he turn back to the mirror. He needed to put sun lotion on, he squeezed a small dollop into his palm but stopped millimeters from his face. There was so much about his reflection that he didn't remember… his eyes and cheeks were so childlike; a human cabbage patch doll. It was a wonder that Ali had gone out with him at all. he heard from laughter from out in the hallway again… the kind that needed no reason to be just happiness and excitement.

Suddenly, the bedroom door swung open to reveal a small girl standing in the hallway as if she owned the world. It was Sarah, his younger sister, Johnny could tell by the scowl across her face. The very same one that had greeted him in the Police Station after the Applebee's fiasco. Johnny didn't remember her being so young; but then again he didn' remember much about senior year besides Ali, Daniel, and having his Cobra's by his side.

"Come on Johnny! You're taking me to the pool today Mommy promised." Sarah whined impatiently. Her pink and white T-shirt and shorts; she kept picking at her shoulders where the straps of her bathing suit were. She began tugging on his arm trying to move him out the door faster.

It was just like his mother to commandeer him for both lifeguarding and babysitting. He could hear her in his head "An idle mind is the devil's playground, darling". He grimaced, Sarah's hands were sticky with something; hopefully just jelly from the breakfast that his mom surely had prepared downstairs. People said a lot about Laura Lawrence being a career woman, but Johnny had never forgotten how efficiently she had run the house.

The tot barely gave him enough time to finish gathering his things. He was adult, no matter what his body looked like and people took kids to work all the time. There were essential items that he needed in order to avoid suspicion his headband, sunglasses, a t-shirt. At the last second, he grabbed the old crucifix necklace hanging above the dresser. If only for two reasons, he knew that there was no way his mom was letting him out of the house without it, and he definitely need God on his side now more than ever.

Johnny couldn't make himself speak once he was downstairs and finally facing his mother. There was nothing to say; he just wanted to hold her tight and never let go. He could already feel the tears rolling down his cheeks and heat creeping along his neck. She was going to think he was sick- that something was terribly wrong. She hadn't really LOOKED at him yet. Too busy buzzing around the kitchen, gossiping on the phone, probably planning yet another family dinner at the country club. She absentmindedly wheeled him over to the kitchen table.

"Oh, good, you're up and ready. Here's a piece of toast eat it and be on your way. The girls will be here for bridge any moment." It wasn't just a piece of toast there was eggs and sausage as well as a glass of orange juice.

Johnny chose to make a sandwich using the toast and eggs. It was almost pathetic how anxious he was in this moment. If this was real food then that meant that all of THIS was real. But these were his mother's salted eggs on the line; he couldn't just let them go to waste.

Johnny felt nauseated, none of this was right… this was so wrong like he was getting kicked in the stomach over and over. As much as he was wanting to enjoy this he knew he didn't belong here. There had to be a way to get back to LaRusso and Cobra Kai. Halfway through the sandwich now and he was bawling. Sarah had gone from trying to pull his arm off to instead rubbing his shoulder in comfort.

"Oh, darling…" Laura's voice rang clear across the kitchen, stopping Johnny's pity party in the process. The phone set off the dial clearly forgotten. "I'm sure you and Ali will work it out really." She smiled at him softly.

"I'm fine. Mom, really, nothing to worry about." Johnny hastily finished the sandwich and juice. He couldn't even look her in the face. Of course she thought it was about Ali what other problems would he have. Eight o'clock in the morning and Johnny was already exhausted.

At the front door, he and Sarah both grabbed flip-flops and were on there way. The girl blabbering on about all of her friends and how he better not embarrass her. Rich four-year-olds were like everyone else's six.

Johnny needed answers and with duffel bag and towels in hand, he was ready to find them; there had been too much crying this morning. Hopefully, Bobby would be willing to help. Johnny hollered I love you as he walked out the door. Bobby and the other's would know what to do, or at least they would believe him, he hoped.


End file.
